Bolsonaro cuts funding for infrastructure, and the federal government needs to invest R$ 540 billion in transportation, says CNT.

Reuters Brazil still needs to invest nearly 900 billion reais to meet the country's transportation infrastructure demands, and the federal government has continued to reduce spending in recent years, relegating most investments in highways, railways, ports, and airports to the private sector, according to a survey released Tuesday by the National Confederation of Transport (CNT).

The study indicates that the public sector, including states and municipalities, invested 319,65 billion reais in transportation infrastructure from 2001 until the end of last year, out of a total estimated by the CNT (National Confederation of Transport) as being necessary of 865,4 billion reais.

Until 2012, federal public investment was the main source of funding for transportation projects in the country, according to the CNT (National Confederation of Transport). This relationship changed from 2013 onwards, when federal public investments totaled 145,4 billion reais, while private investments reached 246,3 billion reais.

The organization, which included data from 2001 until the middle of this year in its survey, argues that at least 70% of the resources obtained from concessions for transportation works and services should be reinvested in the sector itself, as one way to expand the State's investment capacity.

According to the survey, of the 865,4 billion reais demanded by the transportation sector, approximately 540 billion are within the sphere of the federal government.

With limited room for public investment, Jair Bolsonaro's government has promoted a wide range of privatizations in the transport infrastructure sector in recent years, but some important projects, such as the port of Santos, the Ferrogrão railway, and the Santos Dumont airport, have ended up being postponed.

Data from the CNT (National Confederation of Transport) indicates that 2022 will be one of the years with the lowest disbursement for investment in transportation by the federal government since 2003, with only 1,6 billion reais recorded up to mid-July. The peak occurred in 2010, with 29,8 billion reais. The total authorized in the budget for this year was 8,45 billion reais, well below the peak recorded in 2012, when the volume of resources approved for the sector was 45,2 billion reais.

For two decades, Brazilian public investment has been directed almost exclusively towards road transport, with nearly 227 billion reais out of a total of 319,65 billion reais spent by the public sector on transportation, according to data from the CNT (National Confederation of Transport). Despite this, the organization estimates a need for investment in highways of 220,15 billion reais, of which 180,7 billion reais are at the federal level.

Another proposal from CNT to improve the State's investment capacity is the full application of Cide-fuels contribution resources to transport infrastructure "and excluding it from the tax base of the Union Revenue Sharing Mechanism (DRU)".

Furthermore, the entity proposes "excluding from the spending cap public investments with a high, technically proven social return, especially those in transportation, in accordance with the golden rule."

The survey was released at a time when the elected government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is trying to make the Transition Amendment viable, which would allow the Bolsa Família payment of 600 reais plus 150 reais per child up to 6 years of age. Lula is in Brasília this week to discuss the amendment, accompanied by Fernando Haddad, who is being considered for the position of Minister of Finance.

According to the CNT, the smallest need for federal investment - 126 million reais - is in the aviation sector, which received 41,2 billion reais in federal funding between 2001 and the end of last year.

Rail transport still needs 176,5 billion reais from the federal government, after 36 billion reais invested by the public sector, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, the waterway transport sector, which has received less public investment – ​​15,4 billion reais between 2001 and 2021 – has demands for 222,7 billion reais, of which 180,2 billion reais fall under federal jurisdiction.

The CNT also argues in its report that BNDES, which has structured a series of infrastructure concessions in recent years, including sanitation, should have an expanded role in co-financing transport projects, "both through direct financing and by providing guarantees for operations."

Subscribe to 247, Support via Pix, Subscribe to TV 247, in the channel Cuts 247 and watch: